Sonic The Hedgehog Meets Pokemon!
by Invader Krag
Summary: Okay, don't kill me. I wrote this a while ago, and I'm desperately trying to finish it. Tell me how you like it! If it sucks, just tell me straight out, alright? Okay. Glad we got that over with. Chapters 2 - 13 now up.
1. Chapter One

Chapter 1  
  
  
  
"Now this isn't something you'd see every day."  
  
It was a road. Not an ordinary road, but a road nonetheless. The weird thing was that it was floating. Floating in a huge never-ending yellow and blue colored nothingness.  
  
"Team Rocket forgot to warn us about that last step."  
  
"Pika-pi."  
  
Ash, Misty, Luna, Brock, Tracy and Pikachu were standing on the edge of a white road with many twisting and turning paths.  
  
"Weirdoville. Population, 5. Namely us." Luna said, looking around, "Wait a minute, what's that?" She pointed towards a red sign on the side of the road. They ran over to it. It was an arrow pointing down at the road.   
  
Ash read it, "Cosmic Interstate.  
  
You are here."  
  
"Duh. Fat load of help that did," Misty said.  
  
"Wait, it says something on the back!" Tracy exclaimed, "It says "Mobius"...hey, there's a button here! I'm gonna push it."  
  
"Wait!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Stop!"  
  
"Chuuuuu!"  
  
"Don't push that-"  
  
Suddenly, a huge wind carried them off the road and into a newly opened dimensional portal. They zoomed toward a beautiful planet with huge oceans, and pretty countryside. Of course, now that they were about to crash-land on it, it became a little less pleasing. They sped straight at it, but then everything around them turned white.  
  
"You had to push it didn't you!" Luna said, glaring at Tracy. She had landed on her head, but didn't seem to be in any pain, "Now were in some freaky sci-fi whiteness and purple cows will fly up and eat us and we're all gonna die, and-" Suddenly, another portal opened up in the whiteness.  
  
"Freaky!" Brock said. They all walked through it and found themselves in what looked like the back alley of a busy city. They were amazed to find that it was true.  
  
"Whoa! Crazy!" Misty said. That just about summed it up. It was huge.  
  
They found themselves in the middle of a massive, bustling city. It had shops, houses, and a palace on the far horizon. But perhaps the most amazing thing is that it was populated by-  
  
"Animals! An honest to goodness animal city!" Ash said, amazed.  
  
"Yeah! And they all walk on two feet! Weird!!" Tracy said.  
  
"We must have gone to another dimension or something," Brock said.  
  
"Aaah! Let go of me, you jerk!" Misty said from behind. They turned to look at her. She had been caught by two mean-looking dog guards.  
  
"You Overlanders come with us, or the girl gets it!" One of them said.  
  
"You let her go!" Ash yelled.  
  
"I don't know whether to admire your bravery or laugh at your stupidity. If you don't want to get hurt, you'd better shut up and come with us." The other dog guard said.  
  
"Why should we!" Brock said.  
  
"Because if you don't, you won't have a head to do anything else!" The dogs grabbed them and put them on a train-like vehicle.   
  
"Let's see what the King thinks of you!" The first dog said.  
  
" Why do these things always have to happen to us?" Luna said.  
  
  
  
  
Okay, I just put up the first chapter to see how you like it. Luna....don't even mind her. She's hardly in it. I'm sorry about that, I wrote this a long time ago, and it's STILL not finished, but whatever. Tell me how you like it.  
-I. Krag  
  
  
  
  
*this is the notice that was here before, but I read the rules and it said "No announcements"...so her it is again:  
  
  
Alright guys, I'm sorry.....Luna is crap. She doesn't belong. I'm trying to weed her out of later parts, you know....like not speaking. Heh. I hate the character, and one of my friends forced me to put it in. This was like a year ago. Anyway, I'll be updating the next, like, 15 or so chapters pretty soon. Hopefully it will get better. It...isn't the best bit of writing I've ever done, but if I can't post it here, then where? That's enough of a notice for now. I'm gonna post some more chapters. 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter 2  
  
  
Sonic and Tails were zooming off at high speeds around Knothole. They were turning people's heads as they made a whistling sound though the air. Well, not people, animals. Mobians. Actually, they used to be Mobians, but thanks to Robotnik's treachery, they're now robots. Robians. Among the Robians, was Sonic's uncle, Sir Charles Hedgehog. He chuckled quietly, and kept on towards the palace. A roundabout route, too, since he had to exit through the Northern Oak Slide, the only way out. Anyway, back to Sonic and Tails.  
  
"Betcha can't catch me!" Sonic yelled as he picked up speed.  
  
"I betcha I can't! You know you're the fastest thing for miles!" Tails said, "But I can keep up!" Tails flew into the air, spinning his tails like helicopter blades.  
  
Sonic chanced a glance backward towards his good friend, "Ha! I don't think so-"  
  
WHUMPH!  
  
Sonic ran straight into a rock.  
  
"Oh, my gosh! Did you break the rock?" Tails said with a grin.  
  
"Vry fnny" Sonic said into the rock. He peeled himself off and muttered angrily at the rock. Suddenly a hole opened in the rock!  
  
"AAHH! IT'S ALIVE! IT'S GONNA' EAT US!!!" Tails yelled.  
  
"What is it with us and living rocks? Sheesh!" Sonic said (referring to Sonic Comic #56). The hole got wider, and wider, and it got so wide that it was bigger than Sonic!  
  
"Hey, I've seen that before! That's a cosmic interstate portal!" Tails said.  
  
"You're right, Tails! Quick, hide! Let's see what comes out!" Sonic said, pulling Tails into the bushes.  
  
"Ouch! Get off my foot, James!"  
  
"Eeheehee! Sorry, but I cant STAND this whiteness anymore, Jessie! I'm scared! Really really scared!!"  
  
"Wuss. Hey, where are we, and where's Meowth?" The voices got louder, and two figures stepped out of the portal.   
  
"Overlanders!" Sonic whispered, amazed. There was a boy and a girl, both wearing weird clothes, by Mobian standards. They had a big "R" on their shirts and had bright hair. The boy had blue hair, and the girl had red hair. They stared at their surroundings.  
  
"Weird. Looks like we're in some kind of forest." The boy, James, observed.  
  
"DUH! What the big question is, is are we on Earth, or on somewhere else?" The girl, Jessie said, hitting James.  
  
"We can answer that." Sonic said, as he and Tails stepped out of the bushes, "You're on planet Mobius."  
  
Jessie and James screamed, clutching their faces in the anime style. They tried to run away, but Tails flew up and stopped them.  
  
"Who are you, and why are you here?"  
  
  
  
  
You know? Reading through the old parts.......I'm in bad need of editing......I'll get on that just as soon as I finish.....the story. Heh.  
-I. Krag 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter 3  
  
  
King Acorn stared down at the scared figures before him. He was a kind king, but was always cautious of Overlanders, because of the Great War of long ago.  
  
"Good morning. What business do you have in my kingdom?" he said.  
  
"We have come here by accident, sire, while travelling on something, I think was called the "Cosmic Interstate" or something or other. We only wish to get home," Tracy said respectfully.  
  
King Acorn smiled. They were of no threat to the kingdom, "Then I believe you need to see the freedom fighters!"  
  
"Freedom Fighters? Who are they?" Ash asked.  
  
"Shut up you idiot!" Misty said, punching him on the head, "We are in the presence of a king!"   
  
"Ow" Ash said.  
  
"That's quite alright," King Acorn said, "It is a very logical question. You see, in order to understand who the Freedom Fighters are, you must understand the history of our people. We are Mobians of the planet Mobius. For centuries our people lived in peace and harmony, plowing the land, building cities and advancing our technology. Another species, Overlanders, were also advancing, almost at a quicker rate! We lived in mutual agreement of each other, until one fateful day, when a Mobian child and an Overlander child met together in the Great Forest. The Mobian child was King Alexander's son, the Overlander, an unknown. The Overlander was playing with a gun, and accidentally shot King Alexander's son. You can imagine what things were to come. King Alex, looking over his dead son, and seeing an Overlander quickly running away. It was the biggest misunderstanding of our planet's history."  
  
"Wow, that's horrible!" Luna said.  
  
"Yes, it is," King Acorn said, frowning, "but there's more. You see, those events hailed the coming of the Great War, and that war would leave its mark on our planet forever."  
  
"But why are you telling this to us?" Brock asked.  
  
"Because at this moment in time we have no means of getting you back on the Cosmic Interstate, and back to your own reality. Which means, you are going to be here for a long time."  
  
"But where are we going to live, Your Highness?"  
  
"I'm not sure, to tell you the truth, but let me continue my story. During the long battles that were waged during the war, we yearned for battle tactics, since we were inexperienced in the ways of war. We won many battles, never the less, and in the midst of one of our greatest victories, we found our source of battle tactics. His name was Julian Kintobor. Being an important Overlander scientist, he knew much of their battle plans and technology. He was our most useful ally in the war. Or so we thought. Julian, unbeknownst to all, was a traitor. He betrayed many people, including our wizard, Ixis Naugus, whom he banished to the Zone of Silence, one of Naugus's creations.'   
  
"Charles Hedgehog, a brilliant scientist, was working on a machine to cure all illnesses, but like all the others, Julian betrayed him, too. Julian made his machine into the Roboticizer, a machine to make living flesh into steel plating and bolts.  
  
After the war had ended, Julian was celebrated and made head of the army, apprentice to Warlord Kodos. Kodos was also exiled to the Zone of Silence. Soon after, he put me into that dreaded zone, leaving Mobotropolis, my fine kingdom, without a king.'  
  
"One sad day, Julian took over Mobotropolis, and roboticized most of the population. Very few survived, but the ones that did band together. Thus, the Freedom Fighters were born! They battled Julian, now entitled Robotnik, for several years until his demise. We didn't have too much time to celebrate, though, because a roboticized Robotnik from another reality came to crash the party, and has been here for around 4 months."  
  
Everyone stared out in front of them, their mouths hanging open like idiots.  
  
"I'm sorry I had to tell you that story, but you needed to know. Now, on a lighter note, how's about we find you somewhere to sleep!" 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter 4  
  
  
All was quiet on the sandy reaches of the Downunda Desert. The "Outback," as it was so commonly called, was so hot, you wouldn't have a hard time believing that it was deserted. But first impressions can be deceiving, for, behind a rock, something stirred. Hardly visible in the sweltering heat waves, an platypus slowly moved into view. Quick as a flash, he dashed across the desert, a giant sand cloud forming in his wake.  
  
C-CHUNK---C-CHUNK---C-CHUNK!!! Lasers suddenly popped up out of the ground, and immediately started firing at the platypus. He jumped and did a half spin in mid-air, barely landing it. A laser blast grazed his chin. Still he kept on running. Suddenly, a laser popped up behind him and shot! He dived, but it caught him straight in the back! As quick as they had come, the lasers retracted back into the ground, leaving the platypus stranded in the middle of the "outback".  
  
"Aargh, since when was there a trick laser? The stupid thing, stabbin' me in the back when I'm supposed to be trainin'….the injustice of it….-grumble grumble-" the platypus grumbled.  
  
Two more figures appeared, a koala and a wallaby, out from behind another rock, "Well, you're supposed to be ready for anything, bein' a Freedom Fighter and all, Bill," the wallaby said, extending his hand so as to help the platypus named Bill up.  
  
"Whatever Walt, but I'm not doin that again until I get some R&R. What is it, Barby?" Bill said, staring at Barby the koala's funny grin.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about something." Barby said.  
  
"Ohhh…I know…..It has something to do with our vacation to Mobotropolis, doesn't it? Hm??" Walt said accusingly.  
  
"O - O - Of course not! Nothing of the sort! Heh, heh…." Barby said nervously.   
  
"Really." Walt said with a frown, "Huh. I thought it had something to do with -"  
  
"No! Really, I…Oh, fine. You're right. I was," Barby said staring at her feet.  
  
"You've really got it in for that fox, don't you?" Bill said, smiling. Barby said nothing and blushed. Then she stood up straight and addressed them smartly.  
  
"Yes. I am quite looking forward to seeing him again, thank you very much!" Barby said defiantly. Walt and Bill rolled their eyes. They had been walking this whole time, and finally reached a very green pasture with a big building in its center. A tall bird came out of it, and greeted them.  
  
"Hey, dudes, what's up? Bill need some recovering? I still don't approve of that training ground, I mean, can't we all just get along? *Sigh*."   
  
"Hey Guru Emu. Yeah, he got hit in the back with the laser. I agree with you about the ground, but we have to be ready for anything. We were lucky we were prepared as we were when Crocbot arrived, and we still want to be as prepared as ever," Walt said. As they made their way to the infirmary, Guru spotted Barby.  
  
"What's up with you, dudette, eat a bad beet or somethin'?"  
  
"Oh! No…no, just Walt and Bill giving me a hard time about Tails," Barby said.  
  
"Hey, that's mondo uncool, you guys. If she likes him, it's her decision, not yours," Guru said wisely. Barby, being very flustered after all of this talk about Tails, blushed again, and told them to stop bothering her. Guru left with Bill to tend the wounds, and Walt went to lie down. Barby went into the control room and saw something on the machines. It was the power scanner, and it was spitting out info like crazy! She looked at the main computer and called up a map of the island. There was a blinking light on the screen, right over the Floating Island Crater!   
  
"Oh, my," Barby said to herself, "These power levels are very high!" She turned on the intercom, and shouted, "Looks like we got a power reading on this chart! Everybody off your butts and let's hoof it to the crater!" 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter 5  
  
  
"Well, who are you?" Sonic asked forcefully.  
  
"Why should we tell YOU, you blue freak!?" Jessie snapped.  
  
"WHAT did you CALL ME??" Sonic screamed, clenching his fists.  
  
"Sonic, stop. The overlanders still haven't told us what they were doing on the cosmic interstate! Don't do anything rash!" Tails said, calming his friend down.  
  
"And we're KEEPING our mouths shut, until we see someone of authority!" Jessie said. James, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke.  
  
"Jessie, can't you at LEAST be calm enough to see that Meowth is gone?"  
  
"Huh? Wha - Oh, my goodness! Where could he be?" Jessie said as she and James looked for someone or something named Meowth.  
  
"Who's Meowth? Is he a friend of yours?" Tails asked.  
  
"Yes, he's a friend! He's our pokemon! He can talk, you know." James said. Sonic and Tails looked at them like they were crazy.  
  
"Er…what's a pokemon?" Sonic asked quizzically, forgetting his earlier hostility. Jessie and James stared at him like he was the most inferior being in the universe.  
  
"You don't…….know??" Jessie said, astonished. Surely there were at LEAST pokemon in this strange world? Yeah, she was conversing with a brown, two tailed Eevee and a blue, spiky Sandshrew, but no pokemon at all? It was too much.  
  
"How about," Sonic said, "we leave the explaining until we get to Mobotropoli-"   
  
BEE - BEEP! BEE - BEEP!  
  
"Huh?" Sonic said, "Oh! My com-watch! Sonic here." A picture of Princess Sally appeared on his watch screen.  
  
"Sonic! You need to come down here now! We got a group of overlanders here who say they came via the cosmic interstate! They don't seem like a threat, but you should come down anyway!" She said.  
  
"I read ya' sal! Me and Tails found a couple of our own out here in the forest! How many do you have?" Sonic stated importantly.  
  
"We've got three kids, two older guys, and a strange yellow looking creature." Sally said. Team Rocket (as we know they are called) jumped up and looked excited.  
  
"Those must be the twerps!" Jessie said.  
  
"Now we can capture Pikachu!" James said. They both grabbed each other's hands and did a victory dance.  
  
"Yeah, well our guys are older, one guy and one girl. The girl has big red hair and the boy has blue hair. They both have an R on their shirts. They seem to recognize your description of the kids." Sonic said.  
  
"Affirmative. I'll ask them. Just come down here, okay?" Sally said. Sonic turned to the dancing pair and sighed.  
  
"Alright. Let's go. Link hands and hold on. Tails? Follow behind and make sure they don't let go." Said Sonic. Jessie and James looked apprehensively at each other, then did what he asked. Sonic suddenly zipped out of sight, with Tails hot on his heels.   
  
"AAAHH!!" Jessie screamed.  
  
"EEEE HE HE HE HE!!" James screamed girlishly. As Sonic turned sharply, James, who had the end of the line, was bashed into tree trunks.  
  
"You okay?" Tails yelled to James.  
  
"I-I'm ockhay!" James dizzily yelled. His face was being bashed in, but, as he said, he seemed okay.  
  
"James will be alri-i-i-ght! He's got a thick he-e-ed!" Jessie yelled with difficulty. When Sonic finally stopped, he set Team Rocket down. They stood on wobbly legs, staring at the city of Mobotropolis, which has been described earlier in the story. The only thing that Team Rocket saw that Ash and co. didn't was the hovercraft. They were all flying to and fro, transporting citizens to work and home.  
  
"Whoa. That's….big. Really big." James said, astonished.  
  
"Yeah, and the…hovercraft….whoa." Jessie said, as awestruck as James.  
  
"Yup. That's our city. Magnificent, isn't it?" Tails said.  
  
"C'mon!" Sonic yelled impatiently. He grabbed them again and soon they were standing inside the council chamber, where Princess Sally sat in her chair, along with the other leaders.  
  
"Hey Sal'!" Sonic said, smiling, "I got the overlanders!"  
  
"Great Sonic!" Sally said, also smiling, "But I think they can talk for themselves!"  
  
"Finally! Some authority!" Jessie said, "I need to talk to you!" 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter 6  
  
  
  
"You!"   
  
In all of her fury, Jessie failed to notice that there were other people in the room. King Acorn, along with Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey and Luna were standing on the opposite side of the council chamber. Ash and Co. were very displeased to see them.  
  
"Huh, wha - Jessie, look! It's the twerps!" James said excitedly.  
  
"Alright! Let's go!" Jessie yelled. They both jumped into poses.  
  
"To protect the world from devastation!"  
  
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"  
  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"  
  
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"  
  
"Jessie!"  
  
"James!"  
  
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"  
  
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"  
  
"………..er……. 'Meowth! That's right!'"  
  
"Jessie, that was pitiful!" James said after they had finished their motto.  
  
"Well, someone had to do it!!" Jessie said, annoyed. Everyone but Ash and Co. had clueless looks on their faces.   
  
"What?" James said, "Aren't you impressed with our intimidating motto??"  
  
"Actually, er, no," Sally said, "but I would like to know why you did it."  
  
"Grrrr…THEY'RE A BUNCH OF DIRTY ROTTEN THEIVES!!" Luna, who could hardly contain herself, said. Now everyone was staring at her.  
  
"Thank you! We'll take that as a compliment!" Jessie said, smiling.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. These two are what?" Sally asked.  
  
"How about we spell it out for you??" Jessie said, not glancing away from the so-called twerps, "We are members of the exclusive Team Rocket!! Our team has only one purpose: To steal Pokémon!! Now if you'd just step aside…."  
  
"No!", Sally said, coming between them, "I am a just Princess, so I will cut you some slack. You have not done anything bad in our reality, except for threatening, so you will start here with a clean slate. But if anything goes wrong with you two…." Sally made a gesture with her finger crossing her neck, as if to cut it off. Jessie and James cowered under her dark gaze.  
  
"R - r - r - right!" James said.  
  
"Y - y - y - yeah! We won't, er, do anything wr - wrong! Honest!" Jessie stuttered.  
  
"Good. Now I want all of you to shake hands! Go on!" Sally said. They shook reluctantly, all the while staring darts at each other. "So. What's your story?" Brock answered swiftly:  
  
"We come from a world where people train animals called Pokemon. They catch them in the wild, train them, and battle them in competitions. It's the biggest attraction in the world in our reality. We are all Pokemon trainers. These are our Pokemon," Brock and the others let out all of their Pokémon. Sally and the other Mobians were very surprised. They examined the Pokemon and the Pokeballs carefully.  
  
"Astounding!" said Rotor, who had just walked in, "They're amazing! And all of their matter is just compressed into those, er, what did you call 'em, Pokeballs! Amazing! But how did you get here, that's the question!"  
  
Misty stared angrily at Team Rocket, "THEY did it, Princess, er….."  
  
"Sally."  
  
"Right. They did it! They zapped us with their gun when we were in Viridian City, and we landed on the Cosmic Interstate!" Misty said, pointing at Team Rocket.  
  
"No we didn't! That gun only had a projectile with a net on the inside in it! It had hardly the power or the means to transport us into another reality!!!" James yelled.  
  
"Wha - ??" Ash said stupidly, as everyone stared at James.  
  
Rotor spoke once more, "So, what you're saying, is that you don't know how you got here, and Team Rocket didn't cause it? Intriguing…"  
  
"Well, now that we've heard your stories, we'll go ahead and find somewhere for you to stay!" Sally said with a smile. They were so taken aback by her change in attitude, that no one said anything. She took them to Knothole Village, which they stared at in awe.  
  
"They're all - robots!" Tracey said, staring at a woodchuck couple that had what looked like chrome plating.  
  
"Yup. Knothole village has the cities population of Robians right here!" Sally said, smiling.  
  
"Wow," Ash said stupidly.  
  
"So," Brock said, "where do we stay?"  
  
"You, you, and you," Sally pointed at Ash, Tracey, James and Brock, "can stay in Sonic and Tails' house. I'm sorry I don't know your names. You, you and you," she pointed at Luna, Jessie and Misty, "can stay in Hershey's house. I hope you find the homes appropriate, and that I can learn your names!"   
  
"Well, I'm Ash!"  
  
"I'm Misty!"  
  
"Brock!"  
  
"Tracey!"  
  
"Luna!"  
  
"Jessie…"  
  
"..and I'm James…" Jessie and James still looked miffed, but the rest ignored it. Everyone was completely objective to the assignments, but even Team Rocket knew that they should accept whatever they got with kindness, especially in another world.  
  
"Alright, guys, come with us!" Sonic said happily.  
  
"Yeah, we'll show you our house!!!" Tails said, taking flight.  
  
"AAAAAAAAA!!!!" Misty screamed as she saw Tails flying.  
  
"Oh, yeah, heh heh……I forgot to tell you about that……yeah...I can fly." Tails stuttered.  
  
"Wow!" Tracey said, and started to sketch.  
  
"Not now! It's impolite!" Brock muttered under his breath. Tracey stopped sketching and blushed.  
  
"Wow, that's cool!" Misty said, now calmed down.  
  
"Yeah, it's REALLY cool! I wish I could fly…" Ash said.  
  
"Hey, girls! Come on to my house! It's right over this way…" Hershey said, just walking up. She took the girls away to her house, leaving the guys alone.  
  
"So, where's your house?" Ash asked.  
  
"Up here!" Sonic said, proceeding to climb a ladder up an exceptionally large tree.  
  
"Up, there?!?" James asked, looking fearfully up the tree, "Uh, I just remembered, er, I'm afraid of heights….."  
  
"Hmph…..a member of Team Rocket who's afraid of heights? HA! That's pathetic!" Brock said.  
  
"Grr….I'll show you!" James said, grabbing the ladder and climbing quickly to the top. After everyone was up, James gloated:  
  
"Ha! See? I told you I could do it!"   
  
Brock smiled, "Ooh, look at the view!"  
  
"What?" James asked as he looked out where Brock was looking, "Oh - AAAAA!!! EEE HEE HEE!" James ran inside Sonic's house without giving anyone a second look.   
  
"Hmph. You'd think he was still afraid of heights the way he runs like that….so! Why don't we get inside?" Sonic said happily.  
  
  
  
  
God, Luna's still in here. From now on, you know what's going to happen to LUNA?? She's going to suddenly, for NO APPARENT REASON.....disappear from the story. WHOOSH!  
-I. Krag 


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter 7  
  
  
On the ground level, the girls were looking around Hershey's house. They thought it was cool, and she showed them where they'd be sleeping.  
  
"Well, whatta you think?" Hershey asked the three girls.  
  
"Great!"  
  
"Awesome!"  
  
"Cool!"  
  
Hershey's house was big. She explained to them that because she was part of the Secret Service, she got extra things like, well, a bigger house! They were all able to sleep in the living room, where she set up some mattresses for them to sleep on.  
  
"Yeah. It's not much, but it's the biggest room in the house!" Hershey said happily.  
  
"It's fine, Hershey!" Misty said politely. They all said their "thank-yous"and even Jessie was polite.  
  
"So, howabout a tour of the city?" Hershey said, "Let's go meet up with the guys, and we'll show you around!"   
  
**************  
  
"So, how do you like it, guys?" Sonic asked the boys.  
  
"I like it!"  
  
"Me too!"  
  
"Yes, it's pretty good!"  
  
"Awesome!"  
  
Sonic and Tails' room (where they were staying) was cool. There were posters on the walls, a big blue shag carpet and plenty of room.  
  
"Yeah, it's not much, but it's our room!" Tails said. Then a voice called from the other room.  
  
"Sonic? Have the Overlanders come yet?" Suddenly two hedgehog-like robots walked in the door.  
  
"AAAA!!"  
  
"EEEHEHEHE!!"  
  
"Omygosh!"  
  
"No, no, it's okay! These people are my mom and dad!" Sonic said.  
  
"But, they're……….robots……..just like the ones we saw outside!!!" James said, astonished.  
  
"Hmmm…." Brock said with a grave look on his face, "I didn't realize it before, but I just remembered….'roboticizing'…..King Acorn mentioned it, but he didn't say what it was……horrible.."  
  
"I agree." Sonic said with a sigh, "It's his best weapon of defense against us."  
  
"Aw, don't get all upset over us! We're only one of the millions of others who had it done to them! Sonic's uncle is one, too……" Sonic's mom said, "Oh! How terribly rude of me! My name is Bernie, and this is Jules…say, how about we go meet the girls!"  
  
"The girls? Why?" Ash said.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, we're going on a tour of the city! Prince Elias himself is gonna do it!" Tails said.  
  
"Wow!" Tracey said. They walked out onto the large tree canopy their house was built on, Tails turned to Ash, "Hey, how would you like a ride down?"  
  
"Sure!" Ash said.  
  
"Alright, hold on!" Tails said. He grabbed the fox's hands, and they both jumped off. Tails' tails started whirring like a helicopter's blades and they flew off towards Mobotropolis.  
  
"Why are we going this way? I thought we were going down?" Ash asked him.  
  
"We will……eventually…I hafta show you something that I think you should have seen already.." Tails' voice trailed off as they reached the city, and Ash soon saw why. As he looked down, he saw peace and tranquility, but he looked ahead and saw a massive blue robotic city teeming with destruction and filled with mindless automatons. In-between these two opposite cities was almost a physical dividing line of fighting.  
  
"Wha - what is that??" Ash said, his jaw dropping.  
  
"Well, I daresay that King Acorn told you about Robotnik.." Tails said sadly.  
  
"Yeah, but…is that his city??" Ash said, his eyes widening.  
  
"Yup. This whole place used to be our city a long time ago, but Robotnik took over and we didn't even have a city. When the first Robotnik was destroyed, we got the city back, but now that there's another one, we only managed to keep that." Tails pointed to Mobotropolis.  
  
"Wow. I'm sorry…" Ash said.  
  
"It's okay. As long as I'm not a robot, there's still hope of freedom." Tails said wisely, "I think we should go back now." Ash was feeling much pity for Tails and the others, but he did his best not to show it. Everyone was there waiting for them when they got back, and when they landed, Misty cocked her head and stared at Ash.  
  
"Where have you two been? And what's with you?" She said, concerned. Ash still had a dazed, aloof look on his face, and everyone was staring at him. Suddenly, Sonic spoke up:  
  
"I think Tails took him took him to see Robotropolis. The first time's always the hardest."  
  
  
  
To quote Guybrush Threepwood, this is "Stench Ridden Drivel". (Am I critisizing myself too much? Oh well. I'll shut up now.)  
-I. Krag 


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter 8  
  
  
-CLICK-WHIRRRRRRR-ZZRAP-BLEEP-   
  
~WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS?~  
  
~RECON INFO REPORT FOR OVERLORD~  
  
~YOU MAY PASS~  
  
-K-CHUNK - K-CHUNK-  
  
The passing robot waited until he could hear the door close before walking to a nearby deserted corridor and unloading his cargo. He opened a hatch on his stomach and brought out the piece of hardware that formed the center of his mission. A spy-cam. The robot smiled, as he replaced the hardware and continued down the corridor.  
  
"Piece o' cake, as my nephew would say! Heh heh heh…" The old blue robot muttered to himself as he tried to look like he was supposed to be there, as a patrolbot passed. Finally he made it to where he wanted to be: the Service Elevator. He entered and immediately closed the doors behind him. He pressed a button near where his ear would have been if he hadn't been roboticized and spoke, "I'm in position. No one suspects a thing." A strong voice played back to him in his "ear":  
  
"Right. Good work Charles. I'll see if I can do this…" Charles, as was the robot's name, turned off his receiver and waited in the elevator.  
  
Meanwhile, in another part of the massive complex, a huge robot by the name of Rudyard turned off his receiver as well.  
  
"Alright, Rudyard, this is what you've been training for, don't blow it…" He said as he ducked into a side room. He ripped open a wall panel and smiled as he saw the wires, just as planned. He ripped a few out of their circuits, and replaced them in different ones, making a tangled mess. Rudyard seemed to understand it, though, and suddenly he ran out of the room, closed the door, and made his way back to the underground.  
  
Charles' elevator started moving. He watched the monitor inside as it displayed the floor numbers. 1, 2, 3, 4, all the way up to the maximum of 10, where beyond that there were no buttons. The elevator kept rising. The monitor didn't display the numbers anymore, so he counted in his head, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, then the elevator stopped. The doors opened, and he saw no robots. He saw nothing but massive machinery and a huge supercomputer, and something that was perhaps the most dangerous thing he could have seen, and that was Robotnik.  
  
He was sitting in a chair in the center of it all, his mechanical body attached to the supercomputer, in deep thought. Charles saw all of this through a hole in a wall, and he quickly looked away and brought out his spy-cam again. He placed it into the hole, and it fit perfectly. He knew that on the other side of the wall, the camera was generating a hologram so that no one could see it, and he quickly re-entered the elevator and rode it down to floor 1. When he exited, he made his way back to the front door, nodded at the door robot, and went to the side of the complex. He entered a very concealed hatch in the ground, and no one saw him.   
  
Charles sat at a computer, and turned it on. Robotnik and his control room came into view. Charles made a triumphant gesture with his arm, and quickly turned off his computer and got to work. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter 9  
  
  
  
"Jessie? James? Hey, dat's weird……"   
  
Meowth was alone. He was standing in the transitional whiteness between the Cosmic Interstate and another world, and he began to be suspicious of his surroundings.  
  
"Da whole place looks like some kinda white…….eh…….somethin' or other…….hmm…I wonder…." As Meowth stood in whiteness, he began to feel as if he were teetering on the edge of some steep precipice.  
  
"Um…..guys? C'mon, you gotta be in 'ere……woah…Wot da heck?" Suddenly, the portal to Mobius opened, Meowth stepped toward it…….and got a shock.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! OHMY - woah, Woah, WOAH!!!!"  
  
The portal was, unfortunately for Meowth, one-hundred feet in the air. Also unfortunately for Meowth, he was afraid of heights AND had bad balance. Definitely not a good combination, because at that moment he was hurtling toward an immense crater in the ground, screaming his guts out. Just then, the Downunda Freedom Fighters appeared on the scene. Walt Wallaby jumped into the crater, and ran as quickly as he could toward the falling Pokémon.  
  
"Don' worry! I'll getcha!" He jumped up and caught him in mid-air, landing on his foot paws with ease. He set Meowth down and all of the other Freedom Fighters came down to see. Then they noticed Meowth's odd features.   
  
"He - he's a cat!" Said Bill.  
  
"And, he's got some gold thingy on his forehead!" Guru Emu observed.  
  
"And he can talk." Meowth said, annoyed.  
  
"Yes he can ta - AAAA!!!!! HE SPOKE!!" Said Walt, extremely alarmed.  
  
"Wot's it to ya, kangaroo breath??" Meowth said with dislike in his tone. Meowth stood up and looked around, "Talk about a hole in the ground….."  
  
Barby Koala, who hadn't spoken yet, tried to gain the upper hand in the situation, "Well, Mr….uh…"  
  
"Meowth." Meowth said.  
  
"Right. Well, Meowth it looks as if you're gonna have to stay with us for a while. That is, unless you want to stay in the crater…?" Said Barby.  
  
Meowth thought this over, realizing that if he didn't go with them, he would have to endure the heat of the desert, and lowered his hostile defenses. "Well, I guess I could go with you, but if I do, 'da foist t'ing you gotta do is tell me where I am!."  
  
On the way back to the compound, Meowth told the Downunda Freedom Fighters about his world, the world of Pokémon, and Walt told Meowth of the world he lived in. They became grudging allies, and when they got back, Barby received a message from Mobotropolis.  
  
"This is Sally Acorn in Mobotropolis transmitting to Downunda Freedom Fighters, come in!" Said a blurred picture of Sally on the screen.  
  
"Barby Koala here, hear ya loud and clear. What's up?" Said Barby.  
  
"Our energy department picked up a signal over Downunda, and it looked like something we've all gotten used to a little too quickly over here. It was a Cosmic Interstate portal, I think, and I'm transmitting to see if you picked anything up as well."   
  
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, we did. We've got a so-called Pokémon over here, and his name is Meowth. Ever heard of him?"  
  
"No, but maybe the overlanders we picked up from other portals know him. You might need to make your vacation a little earlier."  
  
"How did you know about our vacation??"  
  
"It's not like Tails doesn't have a calendar, you know…he's really looking forward to seeing you guys again."  
  
"Well how are we going to get there? We don't have a boat, or anything!"  
  
"I think I can persuade Tails to pick you up….how about it?"  
  
"Sure! We'll be ready! Barby Koala, over and out!"  
  
As Barby turned off the transmitter, she breathed a sigh of joy. She really wanted to see Tails and the others again. Sure, she may be just a little attracted to Tails, but he was more of a good friend than a…boyfriend. She knew that they would never understand that they were just friends, so she played along with them by acting like she really did like him. She ran off and told the others. Meowth was extremely excited:  
  
"Other people? Yes! It must be Jessie and James! I knew dey wouldn't desert me!" Meowth started crying because he was so happy, and it ran like a river down his cheeks, as it so often does on anime TV shows. Walt looked at him strangely, and then said:  
  
"Well, we better start packing, then, eh?" 


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter 10  
  
  
  
Ash was feeling much better by the time they walked into the Mobotropolis city limits. Misty was still worried, but Ash reassured her that he was ok. When the others saw what Ash saw, they were just as amazed, especially when Tails and Sonic told the story to them. Sonic, Hershey, Tails and the others took the tour of the city, and were deeply impressed by it.  
  
"That was great!" Ash exclaimed as they finished their tour. They were walking out of the Mobian History Museum, and they were all amazed at it. Suddenly, Tails got a message from Sally on his wristwatch. A holographic image of Sally appeared and started talking.  
  
"Tails! I'm sorry it's on such short notice, but can you go to Downunda and pick up the Freedom Fighters? They've got another Overlander over there, and they've decided to take their vacation early!"   
  
"That's great! Sure I'll do it!" Tails said excitedly.  
  
"Good! You cant take the Winged Victory, 'cause that's too small, but I suppose I could trust you to drive the Turbo Prop!" Sally said, smiling.  
  
"Awesome! Thanks, Aunt Sally!" Tails said, turning off his watch. He turned to his new friends and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, guys, I gotta take a trip…"  
  
"It's ok, we'll just hang around without you!" Ash said.  
  
"Thanks! I'll see ya later tonight, alright?" Tails said as he walked towards the hangar.  
  
"Alright! See ya little guy!" Sonic said, chuckling silently to himself. Tails walked in the hangar, and saw the Turbo Prop, recently updated and refurbished by Rotor. He felt like Sally was finally treating him as an adult, and not just a little kid. He got into the cockpit and radioed the tower to open the hangar doors. Within 5 minutes he was out in the air, flying freely.  
  
As Tails flew farther out to sea, he noticed that his plane was slowly moving upwards. He was suddenly jerked straight up! He couldn't control his plane! The plane went up for a while, and then Tails was able to regain control of his ship. He leveled himself, and then tested a theory. He flew lower, and sure enough, he lost control of his ship again! He forced it up, and it went back to normal. He tried going down again, and nothing happened! It seemed to Tails that there was something concealed in a cloak, just sitting there in the water! It had to have been tall, because he had to be about 200 meters above the water.  
  
Antoine walked into the cockpit, looking extremely befuddled. "What was zat??"  
  
"It's gotta be Robotnik…I wonder what he's up to?" Tails said mostly to himself, as he continued his course toward Downunda.  
  
**************  
  
If Charles was real flesh and blood, he'd be sweating right now.  
  
He stared at his computer screen with very wide eyes. If you couldn't read binary, you wouldn't understand. Robotnik was receiving a message from one of his henchbots, and it was in binary for safety reasons. Robotnik didn't dream that after all he had gone through to make Charles completely robotic, and non-reversably his servant, that he'd still be a hitch in his plans, so he didn't bother to have it encrypted any other way. But Charles was not his servant, he was a spy, and he was doing his job, however horrified it was making him.  
  
He picked up the spy cam interface unit and exited his hideout in the junk piles. He quickly made his way towards the main gate. If he could just escape, he could get near enough to communicate with Sonic, and -   
  
~HALT. COME WITH US, TRAITOR.~  
  
**************  
  
Misty kept glancing back at Ash, to make sure he was okay. She didn't know what he had seen to make him react that way, but she had a feeling she'd know soon enough.   
  
They visited the museum, the observatory, and numerous other places, before Misty's worries were assured; at Bunnie's grave suggestion they went to a vantage point of what Tails had shown Ash an hour before: the line of battle. It took constant fighting on the side of the Mobians to keep the robots off, and it was like massacre. They only stayed there for about 20 seconds, before everyone couldn't stand it.  
  
"Man, I need to be DOWN there!" Sonic said, slamming his fist on the wall. Hershey gave him a reproving look.  
  
"Sonic, you know that you can't be down there! You're needed up here! We need your help to-"  
  
"I don't CARE what I'm needed for up here! Hundreds of Mobians are DYING down there, and I know that if I were down there I could whoop those bots' butts!"  
  
"But you also know that if Robotnik saw you down there, he'd send out the heavy artillery, making it even MORE dangerous for the civilians in the city, and maybe we'd lose the city altogether!"  
  
"But-"  
  
"As long as Robotnik thinks that he doesn't have to waste the big guns, we're safer-"  
  
"But if-"  
  
"Pikaaa!"  
  
"ENOUGH!!!!!" Misty shouted at the top of her lungs. Everyone looked at her, as if noticing her for the first time. "If you would PLEASE stop bickering and maybe show us how WE could personally help??" Sonic looked at his feet, and so did Hershey.  
  
"Sorry" they said in unison. Hershey looked up at Misty, and at the rest of them in turn.  
  
"So, you really want to help?"  
  
"YES!" Misty, Ash, Brock and Tracy shouted, and a whisper of "no" was almost…but not quite…heard from Jessie and James. Pikachu also shouted "PIKA!", which was understood as well. Hershey and Sonic looked happy, and at this point Prince Elias walked back into the room.  
  
"Did I hear correctly? You want to help? Well, until we have all of you here, you can't really do anything! Until Tails returns from Downunda with the Freedom Fighers and…Meowth, as you call him…you'll just have to hang here!"  
  
There was a silence, and then Tracy shouted, "Well? Come on! If we gotta wait, lets go and enjoy our stay on another planet, while we still can!"  
  
**************  
  
A stranger roamed Mobius. It was an overlander, and it walked slowly and carefully through the jungles of the Mysterious Cat Country. It wasn't scared, nor was it uneasy, it just walked through the landscape, processing everything. It was a shrewd overlander, and it wasn't alone. Behind it, small figures marched, chained by their ankles. The overlander smiled, and kept on his present course. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11  
  
  
As Tails landed in Downunda, he was still puzzling over the large, concealed object out on the ocean. What could it be? He let out the landing gear and landed on a long strip. Antoine entered the cockpit once again to talk to Tails before they got out.  
  
"Ah, I vood advise you to, eh, not talk about zee large object in zee ocean, no?"  
  
"You're right. I think that Sally or King Acorn should be the first to know." Tails said. Antoine looked satisfied. As they walked down the ladder from the Turbo Prop, they saw the Downunda Freedom Fighters standing there, smiling at them.  
  
"Welcome back, Tails!" Walt said, giving him a high five.   
  
"Hey Tails!" Barby said, amidst sniggers from Walt and Bill. Tails raised an eyebrow at Barby, but she gave him a look that said "don't mind them...they're idiots." Guru Emu gave him basically the same look. Suddenly Tails noticed the odd looking cat beside Walt.  
  
"Well, hello, my name's Tails!"  
  
"Hmm….aptly named, eh?" Meowth said. Tails nearly screamed.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I can talk, what's it to ya?" Meowth said, grumbling. Tails shook his head and beckoned everyone into the Turbo Prop. As he took off, he made a few mental notes. One, to fly higher than around 200 meters. Two, not to cross Meowth, he looked like a nasty one. Three…stop making mental notes.  
  
**************  
  
"Tsk, Tsk, Charles. How…disappointing…" said a cold voice from somewhere in the darkness. Charles turned on his infared filtered eyes. A large man was standing in front of him, his hands on his nonexistent hips. Charles knew who this was. He had spent most of his life under this man, or robot's, command, and he'd know that eerily calm yet torturous voice anywhere.  
  
"And to think I used my best, most advanced technology on you to keep you my robotic slave. Too bad the Brain Burn-Thru didn't work….it would have saved you a lot of misery. The misery of revealing everything you know about your friends, family, and society to your worst enemy, and having nothing you can do about it…" At this point, Robotnik, for that's who it was, let out a poisonous, evil laugh. Charles was completely distraught, but he held his ground.  
  
"I will not let you brainwash me again, you monster!" he shouted. Robotnik just smiled at him.  
  
"Don't think it will be that simple, you miserable little twit! I know that your will is too strong to be forced to divulge the information, so I have devised a much better and much more efficient way. I'm going to take you apart, piece by piece, until I get to your memory core, and then I'm going to read it manually, tossing the rest of your limp, lifeless robot body down into my scrap metal factory, where you will be melted down to your base element form." Robotnik said all of this calmly, almost lazily, as he smiled an evil, horrible smile. Charles was truly scared now, and the worst thing was that Robotnik could sense it. "Of course, I'll have to take time off of my busy schedule to do it…it's not even important now…no…after I activate it, nothing on this planet will be safe…but I feel obligated to at least WARN those furballs before they are completely enslaved, and to do that I'll need your memory core." Robotnik mumbled, as if to himself.  
  
"You'll never get away with it, Robotnik. They'll figure it out, just as I have. That machine will never work anyhow." A vein in Robotnik's face twitched as he stared at Charles.  
  
"You know about my machine? No matter. You won't be active much longer…Shadow bots, take him to cellblock 5. I don't want him in my sight." 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12  
  
  
When Tails landed back in the hangar at Mobotropolis, the rest of the group was already waiting for him. Introductions were made all around to the Downunda Freedom Fighters, and Meowth was reunited to Jessie and James.   
  
"Ya didn't leave widdout me! Thanks guys!" Meowth said, crying. Jessie and James were crying as well.  
  
"Of course we wouldn't leave you!" James said, and Jessie said likewise. When everyone was calmed down, Tails pulled Elias aside and talked to him.  
  
"Elias, I need to speak with your father, right away. It is a matter of great importance." Tails said, trying to sound worthy of an audience with the king. Elias smiled.  
  
"Well of course! But…what do you mean, "great importance"?" Elias asked. Tails made a gesture that dismissed it, and walked back to the others. Elias gazed at him, puzzled.  
  
**************  
  
"Tails! What brings you to me?" King Acorn said. He was flanked by Elias and Sally, who in turn were surrounded by bodyguards. Tails wasn't smiling.  
  
"I have bad news, sir. As I was flying over the ocean, I lost control of my ship. It was forced upwards for maybe 100 meters, and then I regained control again. Then, I wasn't able to fly lower than a height of about 200 meters because I'd lose control again. I wasn't able to go down again for about another 300 meters, and then I could fly freely. Pardon me, I'm not very good at explaining things, but I do believe that there is a large object concealed out there." King Acorn looked grave.  
  
"I have suspected a move by Robotnik for a few days now. Charles has stopped sending us messages, and I believe he may have come onto information he wasn't supposed to know, and was caught. This confirms my fears. Thank you Tails, for coming to me first." With that, Tails was dismissed, but Sally followed him out.   
  
"Tails? What do you think it is?" She asked. Tails puzzled over this, and then spoke:  
  
"Well, it certainly isn't a blimp, like the last time I came into contact with a cloaked device out there, but it might be a large…something." Sally rolled her eyes.  
  
"Oh, that was helpful…"  
  
**************  
  
Charles sat alone in his small chambers in cellblock 5. It was very late, and he felt like sleeping, even though his normal Mobian functions were taken away when he was roboticized. Pondering over his current situation, he amused himself by playing back stored memories of his friends and family. He saw Sonic running in the fields with Tails not far behind, Sally and her father in the royal court, and even his brother and sister-in-law, Jules and Bernie, both before their roboticization and after. He sighed, and heard a rustling down the hall.   
  
Rudyard was walking down the hallway, his hands behind his back, looking at the floor.   
  
"Hey, Rudyard! Where've you be-" Suddenly Charles noticed that he was not alone. Rudyard was flanked by two shadow bots, and they shoved him into the cell next to Charles. Both robians gave each other forlorn looks, and were silent for a long time.   
  
"Well, we're not what we used to be, that's for sure, eh?" Rudyard stated. His roboticized polar bear body shone in the little moonlight that was filtered through the small, barred window.  
  
"No, Rudyard, we're not. We're definately not. The old Charles Hedgehog wouldn't find himself in a place like this, no sir. I think I'm losing my touch." Rudyard looked through the bars separating their cells to stare sadly at the hedgehog.  
  
"We'll get out of here. I know it." Rudyard said enthusiastically. Charles, however, didn't look convinced.  
  
"Robotnik knows that my memory banks contain top-secret information, and he has my cell under extensive cover. He just wants us to think we're in low security....though I have no idea why. Take a look over there." Rudyard still looked puzzled, but looked anyway.  
  
"I...don't see anything..." He said.  
  
"Look closer. See the slight ripple by the 'Cell Block 5' sign?" Rudyard looked again, and took a short intake of breath. "See? I've noticed about five of them. Even if we managed to make some sort of looping feed for one camera, we'd have to make one for every other camera with every other angle, and we still don't know if there are any other cameras in here that I haven't noticed yet. Then there'd be the problem of getting out without being noticed. It's hopeless."  
  
"Now back up just a second...you said something about top-secret information..." Charles frowned.  
  
"I wish I hadn't seen that now, even though it may be useful to the Freedom Fighters...if I get out of here, in which the chances are slim. I can't mention it here, Robotnik'd kill me right away if he heard me mentioning it among the rest of the prisoners....heh, Robotnik thought I was just trying to escape, until questioned me...ooh, the look on his face was priceless. That twitching vein....priceless..." Rudyard slowly shook his head, both at the problem and the thought of Robotnik's face.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't be stuck in a cell with any other robian than you, Chuck, that's for sure. Aye."  
  
**************  
  
As Sonic roamed the halls of the castle, he thought about many things. This was a hard task, considering his shoot-first-think-later atitude. He thought about his "girl", Sally, and how things were going in the castle. Then his train of thought went to the valient battle down below. Then, even further, to the strange object concealed on the ocean that Sally had told him about. All of these then lead to the strange appearance of the visitors from the world of the Pokémon. Could the appearance have anything to do with the cloaked object?  
  
Suddenly, as he passed a seemingly empty room, he heard voices coming from it.  
  
"What? Jessie, are you sure?"  
  
"Yes...I heard it! Faintly of course, cause it was in my pocket, but it was unmistakeable."  
  
"Does that really mean that...that..."  
  
"Shh, someone might be listening. To answer your question, however, yes."  
  
"But why? How? Dis confuses me..."  
  
Sonic listened to this odd conversation, wishing they would just say what was on their minds instead of shrouding it in mystery. He thought this was a good time to butt in, however, and he did so.  
  
"So! What are you guys doing in this dark room?" They froze, and then squealed as they rushed past him towards the empty corridor. Sonic chuckled, but was still quite puzzled. Too many mysteries, and time was seemingly running out. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13  
  
  
"Aah, my princess. I...have something to show you..." Antoine led Sally out of the castle and down through the long corridors.   
  
"What is it, Antoine? Something wrong?" He didn't look at her. He seemed slightly scared. He led her down the long stairs and finally into the hangar where the Turbo Prop was sitting.  
  
"Princess, you may want to 'ave a look in zee cargo 'old..." He let her go inside the ship and she stopped dead at the entrance to the cargo hold.  
  
"Antoine...where are the weapons...and ammunition...?" He sighed.  
  
"I noticed a few minutes ago, my princess. I went into zee ship to do zee maintancence check, and zey were gone." Sally looked grave. She looked around for other missing items.  
  
"None of the hangar workers would have taken them. There is no reason to just take weapons out of the ship when they can be inspected here."  
  
"Do you suspect zee outsider, princess?" She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.  
  
"I hope not. We can't affort do be infiltrated after all we've done to keep them out."  
  
**************  
  
Charles sat, apparently doing nothing.  
  
Rudyard sad, apparently thinking of something else.  
  
Or at least, that's what the cameras saw.  
  
Charles was, in fact, doing something, and Rudyard was doing so as well. "How's it going, Rudyard?" Charles asked, under his breath.  
  
"Not that great, but I'll have it sooner or later." He replied.  
  
"Remember, the spy cam frequency is somewhere between 345.2 and 388.9. I never checked it, because it was linked directly with my computer, but I know I made it with a frequency in that range." Rudyard was laying down, with his hand on his head. To the camera, it looked as if he was just being unhappy at the thought of having been captured, but he was really turning small knobs on a panel in his head. Charles could have done so, but the cameras were focused on him, so they would notice quicker than with Rudyard.  
  
"Yes, I know. You've now told me 12 times. I think I can remember, being a robot. He-ey, what's this?" Charles had to resist the urge to snap his head around to look at him.  
  
"You got it?"  
  
"Yeah! Whoa. Now I see what you were talking about. We've got to get one of us out of here, Charles. It would do to let the freedom fighters know about this." Charles silently nodded.  
  
"Send me the feed." Rudyard did so, and Charles saw the ever so familiar control room in his visual input detectors, or what may be called eyes. He shook his head. It was being completed rapidly, and he suspected that it would be done during the week. Now it was truly set. He must get out of -   
  
"Welcome, welcome. Seeing you here has just proven to me that my first test run on my prototype has worked. It is nice to finally meet you. Are you all set in your own world?" There was a short pause before another voice answered.  
  
"Yes. Everything is going according to plan. We are building our own model in my world, and our activation time is set. My entry was…a little off, however."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"I landed in a jungle. I was forced to take children hostages so that I could get food. On my way here, I had to get a boat ride from a local to a place called Downunda, and board a two-tailed fox's ship. I took all the spare weapons in the ship, and your robots have deposited them in your armory." There was another short pause.  
  
"Thank you…and as for the mishap…I'm sure you….understand, that was not intentional."  
  
"Of course it wasn't. I'm here now, and that's all that matters. My communicator is configured to travel between worlds, so I am in constant contact with my people."  
  
"That is good." Two figures walked around the corner, and came into view. Charles recognized one as the inimitable form of Robotnik, but the other one was foreign, obviously because he was from another reality. He was tall, and thin. His voice was deep, and he looked very unpleasant. A perfect partner for Robotnik.  
  
"Well, Robotnik, you will be glad to know that Rocket Industries has your complete and utter support. Just as long as we get a goodly share."  
  
"Of course, Geovanni. You will get your share." The man known as Geovanni nodded, as if he thought it was good enough, and they continued down the corridor. Geovanni gazed around, looking at the security. There were no Shadow Bots in the hallway, and no cameras to be seen.  
  
"How can you be sure that these convicts will not escape?" He asked Robotnik.  
  
"They know what will happen. They can not escape from me. No matter how far they run. And they know that if they run, the consequences will be much greater. I don't need cameras, or guards. Their fear of me is enough." Now Charles understood why the cameras were concealed. He wanted to make an impression on this Geovanni. Charles knew now, that Geovanni was no more of a partner to him as Sonic the Hedgehog.  
  
  
  
Phew. Got it all uploaded....and that's as far as I've gotten. Comments? Flames? All welcome.  
-I. Krag 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

whoops 


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